Wednesday, January 8, 2020

#BookQW word is DRINK-- excerpt from Unholy Alliance, a #Tirgearr Publishing #RomanticSuspense --


Book quote Wednesday's word is drink.  

Here's how we play it-- find the word in an excerpt.  Below in Unholy Alliance, the hero and heroine realize they're after the same psychopath, Seamus McGinn. She wants to find her sister.  He wants to find the killer.
“You and I have a win-win situation. We’re after the same killer.” Whew. She fanned her face with her hand.
“Seamus McGinn,” he said. “From now on, we’re partners.”  
“I drew a composite sketch of him.” She retrieved it from a drawer under the counter. “I showed this to a dockworker. He sees him once in a while.” Time stood still as he looked over her sketch.
“Good likeness except for the eyes.  Not quite so round.”
“It’s hard to draw hollow eyes. His grin was nuclear.  Not good nuclear.  Hiroshima cruel.” She closed her eyes for a few erratic heartbeats, struggling to rein in her fear. She was a running engine going nowhere and not cooling down.
“Come here.” He tugged her close. “A dockworker saw him, where?”
She rocked forward into his arms, drawn to him by physics or hormones or old fashion need. “At a strip club off the Pacific Coast Highway on Cherry Avenue.”
“Well, hot damn, zip code 90813.  Population is dangerous.” He kissed her forehead, stepped back and gazed into her eyes.
“I can’t promise he’ll be there. Want to go with me tonight?” She took a drink of tea but had a hard time swallowing. She pictured Vivienne hurt and alone. Tears came from dread, but she kept them at bay.
“Can I pick you up at ten?”
“I’ll be ready.” She twisted in her chair. “Just wondered. Dr. Winter taught classes in rooftop gardening. I took his online class. Why would his laptop be important?”
“His research centered on enriching soil in poor countries.”
“So that crops flourish,” she said but waited for the shoe to drop.
“He made a discovery. Farmers who grow sorghum—“
“—for livestock.”
He nodded. “The compound improved clay and sandy soil.”
“Did something go wrong?”
“Not for the poor soil. It did for rich loamy soil. When added to fertilizer and spread on nitrogen-rich soil, toxins flourish.  Livestock die. People who ingest the meat die.”
“No.” She threw up her hands. “His formula is on his laptop.”
“It’ll be sold to the highest bidder.” He paused. “The highest bidder is a terrorist who kills for the sake of killing.”
“The richest soil in the United States is in the heartland.” Her heart pounded like a ticking clock. “Midwestern cattle farms are the target.”
“You have good instincts. Let’s find McGinn before millions die of poisoned beef.” He raised his eyebrow in silent question. “If Vivienne is with him, you’ll find her.”

Wednesday, December 11, 2019

#BookQW word is immediate. Excerpt from a #finalist in N.N.Light Book Award-- #Tirgearr Publishing's Romantic Suspense, Bittersweet Alliance.

Book Quote Wednesday's word is IMMEDIATE, and here is an excerpt from (free on Kindle Unlimited) Bittersweet Alliance, a finalist in the December N.N. Light Book Award.  The winner will be announced on December 16th. Heartfelt thanks to N.N. Light for understanding, reviewing, and selecting this romantic suspense as a finalist.
Excerpt -- from a reunion story, Bitttersweet Alliance:

Was someone waiting for him in the parking lot? Someone like Louella, the baby’s momma who’d summoned Danker for an immediate DNA test? For a split second, she craned her head around but didn’t see her with him.
She and Danker were a couple when the test confirmed his fatherhood. Her heart ached at the memory. Love hurt, but that wasn’t all. Loneliness hurt. Losing someone hurt. Decision-making hurt when you force yourself to do the right thing.
She’d pulled away, giving him space to work on his previous relationship for the sake of their child. The most shameful thing a woman can do is take parents away from a baby, and this began her year of stubborn steadfastness.
I did the breakup rituals. Got the dramatic haircut. Engraved a piece of jewelry he got me with a new message. Deleted the photos that made me cry.
To have been his woman was like living where the air flowered with jasmine, and the weather day after day was flawless, but the forecast was a hurricane.
Older didn’t mean wiser. All this time she’d dreaded running into him, sometimes dressing in expectation of it. If she did see him again, she wanted to look good. Today she looked like crap, but what did it matter? His reason for being on the Big Island had nothing to do with her, not in a personal way. Tomorrow they’d meet at the FBI field office to collaborate on a serial kidnapping case. She’d wear a sleeveless linen dress, open-toed pumps, and bring the accordion file full of notes and newspaper clippings she’d gathered.
The perpetrator targeted wealthy Hawaiians with social capital, the kind of people seen on television or featured in newspapers when they donated money to charities. The latest missing person, Pua Iona, owned Iona Hawaiian Rugs and was an acquaintance of hers. Not that they shared the same social strata, but they’d volunteered together at an artisans’ market to boost Hawaiian crafts. After Pua went missing and fit the criminal’s modus operandi, Mayor Billy Kim, frustrated with police progress, contacted Jolene’s former boss from California, FBI Agent Gary Guhleman, cowboyish in dress but wise in judgement.   
Guhleman didn’t need to tell her Hawaiians resisted outside intrusions. “You know everyone,” he’d said. “Witnesses will share what they know.” The agent and his wife had retired, rather semi-retired, here in Kona. Soon after she and Guhleman had spoken, he called in Danker Donahue to consult. “You remember him, right?”
“Gosh, let me think.” She and Danker went hot and heavy after the Long Beach case that ended with the arrest of mobster Seamus McGinn.
Just then Danker spoke to someone with his rich Midwestern drawl, typical of California transplants. It was the first time she’d heard his voice in seven years after hearing it every day for ten months. She hardened like a turtle on a rock except for a slight turn of her head. He removed an earbud from his right ear and placed it in a protective case.
His longer dark hair, broad shoulders, and square jaw evoked an intense mix of emotions. A car crash of desire. There was nothing more frightening than desiring a freefall. It wasn’t just the sex. Her heart had burst with happiness making a her believe love conquers all. It hadn’t.


Wednesday, December 4, 2019

#BookQW word is NOTHING. Read an excerpt from #Tirgearr Publishing's #RomanticSuspense Bittersweet Alliance.

Bittersweet Alliance is a reunion love story with suspense-- FREE on Kindle Unlimited or $3.99 to buy. The Book Quote Wednesday word is NOTHING.

Older didn’t mean wiser. All this time she’d dreaded running into him, sometimes dressing in expectation of it. If she did see him again, she wanted to look good. Today she looked like crap, but what did it matter? His reason for being on the Big Island had nothing to do with her, not in a personal way. Tomorrow they’d meet at the FBI field office to collaborate on a serial kidnapping case. She’d wear a sleeveless linen dress, open-toed pumps, and bring the accordion file full of notes and newspaper clippings she’d gathered.


Wednesday, October 16, 2019

#BooKQW word is LIGHT. Excerpt is from the POV of the villain in Bittersweet Alliance, a #TirgearrPublishing #romanticsuspense

Here's a little something different on book quote Wednesday-- an excerpt from the point of view of the villain using the word, light. From Bittersweet Alliance, Vivienne (who calls herself Violet) appears in book2 in the Donahue Cousins series. She's a piece of work!

* * *

Later, Violet and Timothy, lay between crisp, white sheets on a queen-sized bed in their woodsy hideout. He wasn’t her first choice but would do for now. With long, purple fingernails, she traced the hard, defined muscles on his chest and smiled.  Men who worked out brought something special into the bedroom their weaker counterparts could not.  Most appealing was his stamina.
Her true love, Seamus McGinn, was in prison. He’d put her through misery but had attributes she admired. The brutal criminal had taught her the tricks of the trade. What would Seamus think if he knew she was sleeping with his younger assistant? Perhaps she’d chosen Timothy because he was Seamus’s assistant.
“Baby,” she whispered. “I need to get going. The open-air market will close soon.”
“Yep.” He rolled his eyes. “Perfect timing for paying nearly nothing for the poorest quality fish.”
“We take the crap destined for the garbage dump.” She rolled over and got out of bed.  After gathering her discarded clothing from the floor, she hurried to dress.
Not long after she and Timothy had met at Seamus McGinn’s island, a slight attraction turned into a flirtation. Timothy was less bizarre and frightening although, for her, frightening had a certain appeal. Besides fulfilling her sexual appetite, Timothy put her in charge. With Seamus, she didn’t know what the hell was going on. She combed her hair and secured it with a purple clip. 
When she returned to the bedroom, Timothy was still in bed, lying on his back, staring at the ceiling and smoking a joint.
“Can I ask you a question?”
His gaze left the fan and landed on her. “Shoot.”
“Have you communicated with Seamus lately?” She retrieved her handbag and keys from the dresser.
Timothy narrowed his eyes and chewed on his bottom lip. “Indirectly, with bitcoin. I let him know when I deposit ten percent of our earnings into his bank account.”
“Why bother? We could use the money!” she insisted through clenched teeth.
“Don’t get pissed off. Sometimes I mail items I pinch. If I try to sell a garment bag full of clothes here, someone will recognize the wearer. Our Long Beach guys have access to pawn shops. You know what would happen if I pawned them here.”
“So that’s the extent of your communication?”
“Yep, just business as usual. Why do you ask?”
“He runs the mob from Gladstone Prison.” She huffed. “Something’s going on. I’ve got this weird feeling that when I find out, I won’t like it. His distancing freaks me out.”
“McGinn reaches out when necessary.”
“Kiss my ass.” Not that he hadn’t, but the context was different. She needed to confide in someone attached to the Irish gang in Long Beach. Might as well be Timothy. To slow her racing heartbeat, she took a few deep breaths. “You wouldn’t believe all the crap he kept at the island. Power saws, shovels, even a wheelbarrow. One of these days, his boys will make their way through. He’ll bust out. I wish I knew what he was up to.”
Timothy propped himself up on one elbow. “Any ideas?” Here he was, a man in his fifties. Rugged, well-built, salt-and-pepper cropped hair and trimmed beard.
Violet snorted. “Once he said, ‘Wait for a surprise.’” She made air quotes.
Shrugging, Timothy drew his brows together. “Call the bartender at his strip joint. He visits the prison regularly.” He sat up, fluffed both pillows, positioned them in front of the headboard, exhaled foul smoke, and leaned back.
“I don’t want to appear curious.  You call.” She chuckled. “I’m beginning to think he’s got a mistress stashed in his cell.”  
“Good guess.” He held out his hand. “Come here.”
After stalling a second, she set her bag on the dresser and sat next to him on the side of the bed. Requiring his comfort, she rested her head on his shoulder.
He wrapped his arm around her. “You got away from him, babe. He was harsh with you, remember? I helped you leave. You were being replaced.”
“Yeah, by a topless barmaid. You did help me.” Her throat tightened. Seamus nearly killed her with his rough sex. He’d grown moody and sullen.
“Maybe I helped, or maybe I didn’t,” he snarled. “Are you still trying to get his attention? Your rampage against rich Hawaiians has him at the center. Your underlying motive is for him to notice you, right?” He sat up, leaned closer. “You think he’d approve?”
Her teeth were still clenched. She was never good at judging his approval rating.
“The surprise you mentioned,” Timothy said, derision dripping from every word, “McGinn just might come after you.”
Violet recoiled. “Me? I didn’t do anything. Why would he come for me?”
“You’re a loose cannon. He’s a ruthless killer but has a practical side.” His voice went warm and gentle. “I’m making lasagna for dinner,” he whispered and then kissed her. “When will you be back?”
“Two hours,” she said. “After buying raw fish—”
“—about that,” he interrupted. Touching her under the chin, he lifted her face. “If you want them to die, why don’t you just shoot them?”
“Yeah, I’d get a real bang out of it.  Your suggestion is under consideration.”
“I noticed your gun is loaded and ready to fire. Heading out with it?”
She closed her fingers around her gun and placed it in her bag. “Might as well bring it. Victim four lives at Bali Kai Condos, but I have prep work.” She held up her hand. “No protesting, no finger-wagging.” 
He grunted. “Hold on. What about the Aheahe girl? I’d like to grab some Titanium Rings.
“Patience. We’ll grab Miss Ringy-ding in a couple of days. For the moment I want to put this other Hawaiian woman down. She’s not wealthy enough to warrant a robbery.”
“Just too big for her bikini top? What’s your plan?”
“She drives a Subaru Outback. When I see her getting out of her car, I’ve got her pinpointed for a hit.”
“Wear your black wig in case of surveillance.” He didn’t grill her for more information but held his hands together, twisting and turning them.
“Don’t worry, I’ll be subtle. I plan to push a luggage trolley around the parking area. It’s located under buildings close to the elevator.”
“Parking under buildings means no sun-damage to paint.” He scratched his head, turned to plump up pillows, and drew the covers high. The man had a thing for the obvious, had a way of saying what everyone already knew. “Also, when it rains, everyone stays dry.”
“Uh huh, including the Hawaiian bitch who comes and goes to her car.” At the door, she snapped off the light. Life with Timothy, even under boring circumstances, was tolerable. Things were livelier now that she’d put her detest of snooty Hawaiians into action. Timothy didn’t deny her this obsession, and for that, she kept him around.

Wednesday, October 9, 2019

#BookQW word is DAY. Excerpt from #Tirgearr Publishing's romantic suspense, Bittersweet Alliance. Every day he appreciated the simple, wonderful things that go along with a child having #Downsyndrome.


This is the day of the week when authors share excerpts on Book Quote Wednesday. The excerpt below is from Bittersweet Alliance

Danker yanked open the door to his navy-blue rented Jeep and slid under the steering wheel. In his rearview he watched Jolene’s red Subaru pass behind him. He backed out and tailed her with the voice of Iz KamakawiwoÊ»ole wailing his song, "Over the Rainbow," on the radio.
Windows down, he sped past surfers carrying boards on their heads and bicyclists wheeling kayaks behind them. Joggers filled the streets.  Life on the Big Island was as laid back as strumming the ukulele. Near perfect for his transition. He’d been out of work due to his eye injury and had been for a while. That was okay. It gave him time with Emmy, making sure she was fussed over, hugged, kissed, and set straight, but loved every day. Emmy loved back, so hard and true. This got him thinking about all those simple, wonderful things that go along with having a child with Down syndrome. It’s the stuff they don't tell you when the genetic counselor sits there with a clipboard explaining chromosomes and whatnot.
His ex, Louella, had intended to prove her new guy was the father. The DNA results surprised everyone. Danker didn’t resist the responsibility, but the loss of Jolene was always there, in the back of his mind. As a couple, he and Lou hadn’t stood a chance. 
Seeing Jolene again was hard. In some ways hard to beat. His foot touched the gas, and the Jeep rumbled. He hungered for her touch. Before he had to leave, would she be responsive?  The thrum of her companionship moved through his brain as he followed behind her. He kept the image of her taking him on top with the lights on, her toned body naked. Her wavy black hair spread out over his pillow as he moved upward, in and out. His loins became heavy and full in response, and he swore under his breath. Damn their situation. Damn her for not fighting for him. Damn her for harboring a ridiculous standard of family values. Other people hadn’t seen her that way.
She could be warm and engaging when she chose.  Jolene worked that on local Hawaiians. They were a friendly pack, rewarding each other with mutual support. According to Agent Gary Guhleman, she had them eating out of her hand.
Others didn’t see the side of her that she’d revealed to him, someone unyielding. She stood on her own two feet, made it with her own accomplishments, and then tiptoed away. He hated desiring the woman who’d splintered his heart.

Thursday, October 3, 2019

#Review for #Tirgearr Publishing #RomanticSuspense, Deadly Alliance--"Rowland keeps the reader guessing.. the love story is more important than the crime."

Gratefulness for authentic reviews, this one for Deadly Alliance is courtesy of Grady Fletcher:

California author Kathleen Rowland has taught elementary school, worked as a programmer/analyst, beginning her writing career writing computer programs and perhaps that has contributed to her success in her now popular venue of writing sizzling romantic suspense novels. As she has stated, ‘I’ve learned to keep the reader guessing about both the romance and the mystery until the end. I learned to hold back information. The love story is more important than the crime which may have been the reason the couple came together. Readers who are mostly women need to fall in love with the hero through the viewpoint of the heroine.’

Kathleen manages to pace her novel to seduce the reader to almost unwittingly surrender to the complex twists and turns of what is a very solid adventure while peppering the plot with enough erotica to please the curiosity of the reader.

From her interviews she offers the foundation for this story: ‘After applying for a bookkeeping position in hopes of keeping her floundering fashion business alive, Amy Ranger discovers a secret bank account linked to one of the company’s owners. She brings this information to light but has no idea the dark secrets it will unearth. Finbar Donahue, former Army Ranger, walked on the wild side in Iraq, but now he lives in the shadows. After his evasive partner, Les, was shot in a random drive-by, Finn discovers cash is siphoned monthly. He fights to keep his investment company afloat. When the late partner’s girlfriend, Amy Kintyre, applies for his bookkeeping job, Finn suspects she knows about his company drain and hires her. Amy needs a nine-to-five with free evenings and weekends to get her fashion design business back on track. She unearths Les’ secret bank account and alerts Finn. Freezing of the money laundering account sets off havoc within an Irish gang. Amy witnesses a gang fight between a brutal ISIS fundraising organization and the Irish. Desperate to escape a stalker’s crosshairs, she seeks refuge with Finn. As danger heats up, sparks fly hotter. Les is alive. After cheating the Irish mob, he became their target. Mistaken identity took the life of his disabled twin brother. Now Les makes another deal—trading Amy and stolen drugs for their forgiveness. Stakes are high as Finn tracks assassins across the San Bernardino Mountains. If he gets her back, can he trust her?’

As an addendum to her plot design Kathleen offers the following: ‘Although our Muslim communities in the US and around the world condemn the Islamic State, the group already rules an area larger than the UK. ISIS rejects peace, hungers for genocide, and its radical religious views are incapable of change. DEADLY ALLIANCE focuses on a fictitious fundraising arm of ISIS, Takbir, but will shake up anyone who thinks we are safe from the inflow of jihadists. The story unfolds like a tricky fan, and layers of intrigue seep though the pages.’

Well said and a very solid read, this. Kathleen has tackled complicated theses and makes them work like a pro! Grady Harp

Wednesday, October 2, 2019

#BookQW word is LONG. Read an excerpt from #Tirgearr Publishing's #Free on KU, Bittersweet Alliance!


Welcome to Book Quote Wednesday and an excerpt with the featured word, LONG. When things go wrong with a couple in love, can time and experiences fix their resentment? Jolene and Danker are working a new case together. They're mature enough to form a professional alliance, but will it be bittersweet?  Excerpt from Bittersweet Alliance below:


Seven long years since their breakup, Jolene Kualoha spotted Danker Donahue, ambling from the parking lot toward the store. She recognized him by his height and long gait. Wind from the north ruffled his hair and brought a bone-biting chill to her heart. Nuts, here he was, ducking his head to miss the bell overhead. It tinkled, and a strange twisting sensation hit her in the stomach.
This happened at the Kalua-Kona Food Emporium on a Sunday morning in July. She stared from where she stood near the avocados. His dangerous edge drew her in, but she turned her back to him. Her body reverberated like when her cellphone was on vibrate in her pocket. Stunned with minor electric shock, she froze.  Maybe he wouldn’t see her.  Wouldn’t recognize the back of her head or the once familiar shape of her ass.
Was someone waiting for him in the parking lot? Someone like Louella, the baby’s momma who’d summoned him for an immediate DNA test? For a split second, she craned her head around but didn’t see her with him.
She and Danker were a couple when the test confirmed his fatherhood. Her heart ached at the memory. Love hurt, but that wasn’t all. Loneliness hurt. Losing someone hurt. Decision-making hurt when you force yourself to do the right thing.
She’d pulled away, giving him space to work on his previous relationship for the sake of their child. The most shameful thing a woman can do is take parents away from a baby, and this began her year of stubborn steadfastness.
I did the breakup rituals. Got the dramatic haircut. Engraved a piece of jewelry he got me with a new message. Deleted the photos that made me cry.
To have been his woman was like living where the air flowered with jasmine, and the weather day after day was flawless, but the forecast was a hurricane.
Older didn’t mean wiser. All this time she’d dreaded running into him, sometimes dressing in expectation of it. If she did see him again, she wanted to look good. Today she looked like crap, but what did it matter? His reason for being on the Big Island had nothing to do with her, not in a personal way. Tomorrow they’d meet at the FBI field office to collaborate on a serial kidnapping case. She’d wear a sleeveless linen dress, open-toed pumps, and bring the accordion file full of notes and newspaper clippings she’d gathered.
The perpetrator targeted wealthy Hawaiians with social capital, the kind of people seen on television or featured in newspapers when they donated money to charities. The latest missing person, Pua Iona, owned Iona Hawaiian Rugs and was an acquaintance of hers. Not that they shared the same social strata, but they’d volunteered together at an artisans’ market to boost Hawaiian crafts. After Pua went missing and fit the criminal’s modus operandi, Mayor Billy Kim, frustrated with police progress, contacted Jolene’s former boss from California, FBI Agent Gary Guhleman, cowboyish in dress but wise in judgement.  
Guhleman didn’t need to tell her Hawaiians resisted outside intrusions. “You know everyone,” he’d said. “Witnesses will share what they know.” The agent and his wife had retired, rather semi-retired, here in Kona. Soon after she and Guhleman had spoken, he called in Danker Donahue to consult. “You remember him, right?”
“Gosh, let me think.” She and Danker went hot and heavy after the Long Beach case that ended with the arrest of mobster Seamus McGinn.
Just then Danker spoke to someone with his rich Midwestern drawl, typical of California transplants. It was the first time she’d heard his voice in seven years after hearing it every day for ten months. She hardened like a turtle on a rock except for a slight turn of her head. He removed an earbud from his right ear and placed it in a protective case.
His longer dark hair, broad shoulders, and square jaw evoked an intense mix of emotions. A car crash of desire. There was nothing more frightening than desiring a freefall. It wasn’t just the sex. Her heart had burst with happiness making a her believe love conquers all. It hadn’t.
In profile, the skin of his face was not as smooth. His craggier appearance reflected who he was, a loner with little concern about his well-being. The work he’d chosen reinforced his inclination toward secretive and wary, trusting few people. 
She sighed at his detached beautiful elegance.  So beautiful in a manly way, and he was once was hers.
She’d let him go.
No, she’d pushed him away and cut all ties. The right thing to do was the hardest thing. She expected Danker to be different, not just older but still having an immensely handsome face.  Worst case, with the risks he took, she expected he’d be dead. What she saw was what she’d hoped for. Alive.  Succeeding as a top investigator called on by the FBI. She also hoped he’d found happiness with the child he’d fathered.
He was looking around for whatever it was he came for.
Her hands trembled, and she turned back toward the produce rack. She ran her hand over dark and shiny avocados, distracted with their various shades of green and texture due to degrees of ripeness. She placed several in her shopping basket next to a ready-made beet salad with goat cheeses and a shortbread cookie for being good about getting the salad. When she moved the handles to the crook of her elbow, the basket wobbled from her nervous freaking.
Earlier she’d exchanged niceties with a couple of surfer buddies, but they faded into the background.  Her awareness went only to him, his broad shoulders and chest.
He meandered toward an end-aisle coffee display.  After speaking to the store manager, they headed off.
She couldn’t see them but heard him right across the store. If only she hadn’t stopped here on her way home from the beach. She shifted her weight and gazed down to her knee-length sarong. Should she flounce over to him in this faded pink and teal rag with sand in her hair and ask, “Buying coffee today?”  That lame question fit if her heart rejoiced at hearing his voice but didn’t if it sorrowed with anger. She needed more than a split second to come up with something smooth on the surface, but then, if he thought about it later, her cutting words would drip blood. 
It didn’t make sense to bolt, and her wish to be glib faded. She had no food at home except for wilted spinach and baby carrots. She shopped for food when necessary even though she liked to cook. Cooking for one reminded her she was just that. One. Singular, alone, and she wasn’t the type to concoct a delicious meal just for herself while sipping wine in her kitchen overlooking the surf with candles burning and then serve her meal on gorgeous stoneware. Why waste energy when she could pick up a freshly made salad and eat it out of its plastic container?  Then she’d read a book or maybe phone her parents whom she supported in Honolulu. Eventually, she’d go to bed.  Alone. The good part was waking up the next morning and flying a helicopter for tourists bent on viewing the erupting volcano.
An experienced pilot, thanks to military training, she narrated while flying guests over the most awesome terrain and geological features in the world. Fire and Ice Tours did it all with views from rainforest to desert, active volcanoes spilling over the shore, sea cliffs and valleys, ancient ruins, and historic towns. She showed off the Big Island with the pride of a local.
Often on her drive from the company’s helicopter pads near the airport to home, she’d envision ways to change up her routine. She envisioned more evening walks or going to those Pilates classes at a studio just down her street, but mostly she liked to surf.
A few times she’d set up girls’ nights out with friends and had put on a pretty dress. They’d hit the swanky bars along Ali’i Drive. Seeing a man look at her made her smile, talk, and even accept a date if he asked. Going on that date sparked comparisons. Comparisons with him.
She’d rehearse the sad things, the reproachful things, the angry things she hadn’t said. The words of anguish and disappointment. The unspoken words of fury over their situation. But now in Kona-Kalua Emporium, she was mute. She wanted to rest her head against a refrigerator door and cry. Cry forever.  She could begin crying right here by the avocados. Her eyes might wander as they blurred, over the dried nectarines and chocolate-covered ginger slices.  She observed fancy chutneys and honeys in their square jars.  She winced at their unique design implying privilege. Her acquaintance, Pua Iona, was privileged but now missing as if a silent spider dropped down from a web for all the notice he gave.
 What kind of problem did Pua face, hour by hour? Jolene jolted from self-absorption. How frivolous to be nervous about meeting Danker Donahue while looking ratty. She had a job to do, serving as a local coordinator while Danker partnered with agent Gary Guhleman.
Jolene squared her shoulders, strode in the direction of the coffee aisle, and peered around the corner. He wore the T-shirt when they were sky-high in California. Her stomach turned over and over like a chopper spinning in a nosedive.

#BookQW word is DRINK-- excerpt from Unholy Alliance, a #Tirgearr Publishing #RomanticSuspense --

Book quote Wednesday's word is drink.   Here's how we play it-- find the word in an excerpt.  Below in Unholy Alliance , the...